My good friend and very talented photographer,
Andy Peterson, blog tagged me. This means that I have to list 8 things about me that you may not now. (Incidedtly, another great photographer and friend,
Erich Camping, blog tagged me today too!)
Let’s begin.
1. I love my wife and kids more than words can say. Each one of them has something unique about them that makes me love them more and more. Without them I would be nothing. They keep me motivated and smiling (constantly).
2. When I was a boy, I always wanted to grow up and be a dad. I said that I was going to have 5 kids. With our blended family, our newest baby girl will make that 5 (in my heart).
See, I had a daughter in 1998. Her name was Jourdan Leigh Burke (1/29/98 - 2/1/98). She was born with a heart defect called
Left Heart Hypoplastic Syndrome and she only lived for 3 days. This was not known during the pregnancy or upon birth. She was born healthy and we have beautiful and fun memories of her for the first 36 hours of her life. Jourdan will be with me always. She is my little angel :-). Here is a picture of her.

3. Favorite things besides family: Dozer (my boxer dog), my church, my Nikons, my Macs, my Honda, vacations, Harry Potter series, business books, simplicity, music, movies, Xbox 360, photographs of course!
4. I have always loved computers and cameras. Funny how things turn out! My first computer was a 1991 Packard Bell 16 Mhz with 1MB RAM. The hard drive was 85MB. I remember saying to my friend, ‘Man 85 megs! I will NEVER fill this up!’ On a typical wedding day I fill up about 16,000 megs with pictures!
My first camera was a Kodak 110. Then I moved to the Kodak 35mm compact camera. I bought my first SLR (a Minolta) in 1997. I then truly fell in love with photography. After that I bought a Nikon N70 in 2000. The Nikon D100 in 2003 was my first digital SLR and the rest is history. (I occassionally still shoot film. Kodak Tmax 3200 for Black and White. Fuji Pro 400H for color.)
5. I graduated college after majoring in Accounting and Finance. I was an accountant for a short period of time before I realized how much I disliked accounting. I taught myself how to program in Visual Basic and ended up getting a job as a programmer. I eventually settled into mostly database programming for the majority of my computer career.
I always wanted to be independent and have my own business. Bridget gave me the kick in the but to try the photography business. My business background and computer experience have been tremendous assets. Thank you b!!
6. I hate snakes. Yes I am afraid of them. Even gartner snakes.
7. I used to play guitar and sing all the time. As I got older and busier, I stopped. Now that Damon just bought his first guitar, I am getting back into it. Music is a wonderful catharsis. This is something we can really enjoy together. Side note: Damon’s talent is amazing. He is good at everything he tries.
8. If you need tips on how to grow a killer mullet, I can help. I had a huge mullet in high school. It was my pride and joy (See picture below).

I tagged:
Heather LahtinenMelissa RichPriscilla O'SullivanMichael NorwoodMike SteelmanKelley CalvertJoanne BartoneRobin Pesa